Assumptions
by 1tenaj
Summary: What if Ariel's desire to become a human was not just based on love, but also on fear? Rated M for some violence and a rather dark theme.
1. Echoes

_Disclaimer: I own nothing._

_This chapter is rather short—I hope to have longer ones in the future. Please R&R._

They all just assumed she was modest.

Even her sisters never suspected anything. She was just a helpful soul for washing her clothes by herself. And some very shy mermaids tended to wear loose tunics on top. Most didn't do either of these things, but she was a princess, so no one ever questioned it. _Why should they?_ Ariel thought bitterly, donning her longest shirt.

She would need it to cover up to most recent ones.

Ariel swam gingerly towards the dining hall, wincing each time she brushed against a wall, although that number had gone down by far since the first time.

He wasn't there at breakfast, thank goodness, but all of her sisters were there. They all rose simultaneously and crowded around her, each painfully hugging her in turn.

_What's happening today?_ Ariel wondered. Then she remembered. It was her birthday.

…..

_She hated herself for following his orders. The last time she had refused to come, he had knocked down the door and given her the worst one ever. She'd had to stay in her room for the next two days, faking an illness._

_When she reached the barren valley, he was there. She started trembling at the mere sight of him nowadays._

"_Ariel," his voice boomed with the speech that he recited every time, "You are guilty of the worst crime that can be committed in the sea. You have killed Queen Amphitrite. But as you are my own daughter, I cannot bring myself to sentence you to death, nor do you deserve such a light and painless punishment when her last moments were torture. Instead, you will come to me every time you do her memory an offense and you will be punished by my hand accordingly."_

_Ariel wanted to reason him, telling him that it wasn't her fault that her mother had died a week after she was born, and that she couldn't help it if she looked like a mirror image of her. She wanted to beg him not to do this to his own daughter. But she had tried that many times before, and it did much more harm than good._

_Instead she hardened her face into a mask as her father drew out a whip._

_It was obvious why Triton always picked such remote places when the echoes of her screams could be heard from a mile away._

"Ariel, darling?"

Her sisters were all looking at her with confused looks etched on their faces.

"Where'd you go?" Alicia asked.

"Sorry. I was just…thinking," Ariel replied lamely to her eldest sister.

"Well stop thinking and start having some fun! We're taking you out, just a girl's day. You're 18—it's the last chance we'll have to celebrate one of our sisters' coming of age!" Andrea said excitedly.

Ariel tried to relax, to convince herself that her siblings would never lay a hand on her.

But it was hard to do when she knew that they all had half of their father's genes.


	2. A Hypothetical Suitor

_Unfortunately still not as long as I wanted it, but it's the best I can do with this semi-writer's block._

…..

She was unbearably sore.

Her sisters' definition of "a girl's day" consisted of swimming around to a bunch of different places, including a place that sold shirts. They almost came into the changing room with her, but Ariel just stared at them timidly until they took the hint.

She loved them, of course. But her father made it quite clear that if anyone, even her sisters, found out, her punishments would leave her so badly off that she wouldn't be able to move.

Alicia and Alexa really wanted to go to a haunted gallows, but by this time it was almost 12:00, and they were supposed to be up at 5:00. Ariel pointed this out quietly to them.

"Come on, Ari, who cares about Daddy? You're 18, in your rebellious teenage years!" Abigail cajoled.

"Guys, this has been one of the best days of my life, and I'm completely grateful to all of you for making it happen," Ariel said truthfully. "But I'm just really tired. You go on. Really, I'm good."

Her sisters let out disappointed sighs but recovered their enthusiasm soon enough, leaving Ariel alone. Once they were well out of sight, Ariel glanced around carefully and started towards her cave.

…..

The entrance was hidden beneath a sunken ship where Ariel had discovered it about three years ago, when the beatings started becoming much more severe. It was rather small, able to hold four people max, but it didn't matter because she would be the only person ever to visit it.

She went here to tend to all of her injuries and for some alone time when she needed it. She stored a few rolls of bandages, some cleaning solvent, and anything especially private here. By now she was an expert at healing and had cleaned everything up in no time. Satisfied, she swam up to a small offset to the cave, where she had a prime view of the surface.

Her father had decreed a law against going above the surface, of which breaking was punishable by death. Perhaps that was why she had always been fascinated with humans. Of course, she'd never seen one, but the paintings that she'd found in shipwrecks fascinated her immensely. She unconsciously touched her tail, imagining legs and feet.

Ariel was snapped out of her daydream by a loud explosion. She panicked for a moment, thinking that her father had found her hideout and was destroying it. Then she realized that the noise came from above.

It was a ship.

Ariel had seen the floating things before, but never had one passed so close to her cave. Intrigued, she slipped softly out of the cave and swam towards the surface.

_What the hell am I doing?_ she wondered. _If Triton found me here…_

A simultaneous roar of voices emanating from the ship made up her mind. She clambered up the side of the boat, hoisting herself up to get a view of the deck.

A man at the prow of the boat was addressing the crowd. He leaned easily back against the edge, and the sight of his face drew an involuntary gasp from her.

_He's beautiful,_ she thought. His wide blue eyes entranced her, and she was struck by a desire to run her fingers through his jet black hair. He was more handsome by far than anything she'd ever seen.

Her eyes wandered around the ship, taking in all the foreign things as well as the ones that she'd found among others. She was most interested by a large fluffy animal that seemed to belong to the man, who judging by the humans' calls was named Eric.

"Eric," she whispered to herself. She had never been allowed to have suitors, as they would find the truth about her, but she had always dreamed of finding the love of her life, someone she was currently imagining to be a lot like Eric

"Happy birthday, Prince!" one of the sailors yelled, at which everyone started singing.

The voices trailed off one by one as Eric's pet thing suddenly twisted its head and made eye contact with her. It broke free from Eric's gentle hold and charged towards her. Ariel instinctively let go of the boat and dived into the water, hoping that no one had seen her

She watched from underwater as Eric dashed to where she had been looked into the sea with a puzzled expression on his face, his gaze sliding right over her. She sighed in relief, but also felt strangely…no, she couldn't be disappointed.

The prince shook his head, walking back to the rest of the men. "Max, you crazy little mutt, interrupting my birthday song!" he called affectionately, which was received with shouts of laughter.

The shouts abruptly transformed into ones of fear as an orange yellow liquid raced over the deck.


	3. A Bad Song

_Warning for this chapter; violence, but not explicit._

_Please review._

* * *

><p>He was like a bad song, stuck in her stupid daydreaming head.<p>

Eric.

Eric.

Eric Eric Eric Eric.

_Stop it_, she told herself.

_Eric, _her heart repeated.

"_When can I see you again?"_

He wanted to see her again. He liked her. Maybe he loved her.

For the next day and half, whenever she wasn't studying or doing another time consuming princess activity, she thought of him. The problem was that nothing could ever happen. He would find out that she was a mermaid, her father would find out, and she would die. Nonetheless, she found herself lost in a fantasy where she was with Eric, and her father never hurt her, and her mother was alive, and Eric loved her. Eric Eric Eric Eric Eric Eric.

She didn't even know him, but he just seemed so perfect.

She glided into her room and flopped on her bed, and the sound of crinkling paper as she did so crushed her entire world.

_No. Please. Not so soon._

She rolled over and picked it up. It was her father's handwriting.

_Confuto Antrum. 5:30._

He had never done it after only two days. Five was the shortest. Her wounds had barely started to heal. So far she had no scars (mermaids healed better than any other creature) but if it was bad tonight, that might change.

Confuto Antrum was pretty close to the surface, but extremely far away from her safe and secure cave.

She wanted to cry, but it seemed she had run out of tears.

* * *

><p>He was there before her. "You're late. That is unacceptable," he told her, his lip curling in loathing.<p>

She wasn't.

_Christ._

He recited Ariel's "crimes" again in that icy voice of his.

"_You are guilty of the worst crime that can be committed in the sea…but as you are my own daughter, I cannot bring myself to sentence you to death, nor do you deserve such a light and painless punishment—" _

Sure, her mother had been killed by a shark. Sure, she died in front of Ariel's crib from injuries sustained by the fight. Sure, it was a horrible death, and Ariel felt strongly for her. But her whole life was destined to be hell.

She was shaking again as he reached behind him for the horribly familiar whip. But he didn't take out the whip. Instead he took out two puffy black objects and put them on his hands. As he came closer, Ariel realized that the gloves were studded with metal.

"Please, Dad…" The words slipped out of her mouth, and she knew that she had only made it worse.

"Don't you dare say that to me. You deserve this." His voice was like a whisper. "Tell me that you deserve it."

She hated him.

"I…"

_Deserve. This._

"I…I…"

She couldn't make herself say it. Why couldn't she make herself say it?

_Damn my pride._

She was crumpled into a ball even before the first blow.

* * *

><p>She couldn't move.<p>

She couldn't breathe.

It was obvious why he'd chosen Confuto Antrum. The cave was made up of a weird spongy material that absorbed all sound.

Ariel stretched out a hand to a nearby rock and wondered how long he had hit her after she was unconscious. The pain hammered into her entire upper body, where he kept the blows isolated to. She barely able to pull herself up without seeing stars. The floor of the cave was splattered with…she couldn't look at it.

She couldn't swim. She tried dozens of times and earned only agony. She used her arms instead, grabbing onto rocks and propelling herself forward. This method was much less pain-inducing, but more tiring.

Ariel finally made it out of the cave and looked desperately through half closed eyes at her surroundings. She spotted another cave-looking structure and screamed as she was forced to swim towards it.

Her heart broke as she realized that the cave was partially above water. She dragged herself onto it and almost blacked out from the effort, floating on top of the water.

"Hey!"

She recognized the voice as Eric's and wanted to make herself invisible.

After a few seconds of splashing, he broke the surface of the water in the cave.

"Oh God, oh no, what happened?" His voice cracked on the last two words.

"Please," she breathed. "Don't tell…aah…please."

"But-you-you're hurt. You'll die. I have to go get help."

"If you tell…I will be hu—MMPH—far worse."

She saw him nod, and relief swept through her despite everything else that had happened.

She couldn't feel the pain anymore, and was almost grateful for the wave of nothingness that extinguished her.


	4. Helpless

_If I do say so myself, I'm very happy with this chapter._

_Please review!_

…..

Eric still couldn't believe that he wasn't dreaming.

But he didn't know if it was better to be.

He was looking at the love of his life, who had told him that he would never see him again.

He had found her after only one week.

She had saved his life.

She was a mermaid.

Someone had done this to her.

Looking at her injuries, the last thought made him want to cry, followed by the immediate desire not to let anyone touch her ever again, which was overwhelmed by a tidal wave of anger at whoever had done this.

He had cut his arm with a rock and gone to the palace nurse, telling her that he'd like to treat it himself. She'd given him an odd look; but what could she do, he was the prince. Her shirt was cut away from her body, but Eric was much too scared to remove her undergarments. He took off his shirt and combined it with her own in an effort to make a padding.

When he cleaned her wounds he saw just how badly she'd been hurt. She had lash marks across her back and lower torso that looked to be from a previous time. Right now she had gashes all over her body of all shapes and sizes. Everywhere but her tail.

She shifted slightly and let out a moan. Eric was beside her in a heartbeat.

"Eric," she murmured.

"Yeah," he responded, ready to jump off a cliff if that's what she asked.

"Thank you. I don't know what would have—"

"It was an honor," he cut her off. "Besides, if it weren't for you last week I wouldn't be around to do so." She offered him a half smile.

"What's your name?" he asked, trying to move to a lighter topic.

"Ariel."

"Ariel," he tried. The name seemed to belong in his brain. "That's beautiful."

She blushed and tried to maneuver herself to a sitting position on the ledge he had found. He stood up quickly and waded over to her to help, putting one hand on her lower back as gently as he could. Her breath started coming in shorter gasps, but eventually she managed to lean on the wall.

"Thanks," Ariel repeated sincerely.

They didn't speak for a few moments. Eric simply leaned back and stared at her until she looked down, embarrassed.

At last Ariel looked like she was about to burst. "May I?" she asked, indicating his feet.

"Me first," Eric responded. Ariel moved her tail toward him and nodded. Eric ran his fingers gently over the scales in wonder, making her twitch. The texture of her tail was similar to leather, but slightly softer and more flexible.

She in turn lifted a finger and indicated his feet. He pulled himself out of the water with a slosh and swung his feet gently over her lap. She almost dunked him back into the water in her eagerness even though her motions were slow and jerky due to the pain she was surely feeling.

"Wow," she whispered.

"Would you believe I'm one of a kind?" he asked. Ariel's laugh made his pulse stop.

He felt himself become painfully aware of both of their states of undress and their close proximity. Eric fidgeted with his hands, wondering whether to choose the bold option or not. _No, _he decided,_ it's too soon, and there's a small chance that she might not feel the same way._

Ariel leaned forward ever so slightly, maybe even accidentally, and before he knew it he was kissing her.

Her eyes flew wide open, and he thought she might pull away before she kissed him back hungrily. Eric placed one hand on the back of her neck and drew her in closer, too afraid to do anything else for fear of hurting her. She tried to lace her hands around his back and in his hair but let out a cry that was muffled by his lips. They broke apart, and Eric had to force himself out of his stupor in order to help her lie back down.

"Sorry, I, I shouldn't have. You're hurt. I'm stupid," he mumbled.

_Wait to go, Eric._

Ariel struggled to lift her head, resigning herself to beckoning him closer with a flick of her wrist. He leaned over her, and was surprised to find her lips on his in a second, chaste, kiss.

"Do you know what time it is?" she asked when Eric pulled away.

"Um, the, uh, it was almost eight when I went to get the bandages…so I guess 9:30? 10:00?" he fumbled, still blushing.

She breathed out in a sigh.

"Good, otherwise my father would make this look like a fairy…" She trailed off at the look in his eye.

"Your father. He did this to you," he whispered. It wasn't a question but she nodded anyway.

"Does this." She corrected him seemingly involuntarily.

Eric stood up, feeling the world spin dangerously around him. He slammed his fist into the closest wall of the cave, doing it again and again and again until he could trust his voice not to shout in rage.

"How can he. To you of all people. His daughter. How does he get away with it?" he demanded.

"Well, I don't know about you, but we have one ruler, the king. I'm a princess, Eric. There's no one to tell." She plastered a smile on her face, but it didn't touch her eyes or the resigned tone in her voice.

"Don't go back," Eric said impulsively, seizing upon anything that came across his mind. "Stay with me in this cave. I'll make a tunnel from my room, and I'll come every night, and, and, I'll make sure that he never touches you again." He knew how childish he sounded, and the look on her face confirmed it.

"Please, don't go back. This can't happen to you again," he begged.

"Eric, my father can find me anywhere if he tries, and when he does, I cannot begin to describe the hell that he'll unleash on you. On us."

He was drowning in a tidal wave of helplessness.

"But…no. No! There is no goddamn way I am going to just watch the love of my goddamn life get, get—" he indicated her body. A grin sprang up on her face as she mouthed his last words.

"Tell you what," she promised. "Do me a favor, prince. Don't be selfless. Don't get yourself into something you won't get out of because of me. In return, I'll come back here anytime this happens. He always gives me until dawn to be back at the palace. We can stay here, together, until then. It's the best and only chance I have at getting to see you, so please, just do it for me."

Eric relented, wondering how he had gotten himself into a situation that was costing him every moral code he had.

But the look on her face was worth a thousand times more.

Eric moved over to the ledge again, planting himself next to her tail. She held out her arms weakly. He obliged, sweeping her up as gently as he could onto his lap, enveloping himself like a blanket around her as she started shaking with quiet sobs. He whispered reassurances in her ear and breathed in her scent, wishing he could hold her like this every night of her life.


	5. Darling

_This has been a really good week for me, but unfortunately I might not be able to update until next Saturday. Sorry guys._

_I feel like a broken record, but really do review. It makes what I do better._

…..

She woke up to the feel of a calloused hand stroking her hair.

"Mmmm," she sighed, trying to snuggle closer. A jolt of pain ran through her body as she brushed against a rock that was poking up through the sheets that Eric had brought. She arched her back, and he was there for her at once, easing her body back down.

"How long have you been awake?" she asked him.

"It's almost dawn; you're going to have to leave soon."

"Eric?" she pushed.

"Um…about half an hour," he admitted.

"You should have woken me," Ariel accused.

"I dunno, it just seems like you haven't gotten a lot of chances to really sleep."

He was right, of course, but she didn't care. It wasn't like she had many chances to talk with him. _Or ever will, _a more pessimistic side of her whispered, which she ignored.

She sat up as slowly as she could, waiting for the horrible agony that had assaulted her the day before, but instead there was a painful, but less harsh, burning sensation all over her body. She slowly inhaled and exhaled, forcing the discomfort away.

"How bad is it?" asked Eric, who was watching her worriedly. She bit her lip, trying to decide how to answer positively.

"It's not bad, actually. He's always used a whip before, and that stayed for days sometimes. This hurts a lot more at first, but it feels so much better now. Merfolk heal quickly. I'll be fine."

"Can I, um…" Eric looked away and motioned towards her torso. Since he had cut apart her shirt yesterday, he had used that as a padding and given her one of his tops to keep her warm, even though it left him in only a thin undershirt

"Can you take off my shirt? Yes," Ariel answered, smiling at how uncomfortable he was quickly becoming. Eric's face almost matched her hair.

"Okay," Eric told himself, steeling his mind for the worst. He grasped the bottom of the shirt and pulled it off awkwardly, trying to avoid it touching her body. He winced at the sight in front of him.

Her stomach was a mass of cuts with a large bruise at the center. Her lower arms had been spared, but there were stripes from a whip across both of her shoulders. Ariel's back was by far the worst, though. There was more damaged areas than healthy, and the places where she had been whipped first had barely started healing.

_It's much better than yesterday, _he reminded himself, but yesterday was different. He had practically gone into shock, and didn't remember too much of anything before she woke up. He circled back around her, ghosting his fingers over a nasty purple spot on her neck before looking into her eyes. They betrayed no pain.

"You don't have to pretend that it doesn't hurt," he told her.

"It isn't that bad for me, Eric. Don't worry. I'm used to it." She stopped, knowing that her last sentence had hurt him the most. It was strange comforting someone else about her injuries, but refreshing. If she thought about it, he was probably hurt worse.

"You shouldn't have to get used to it," he murmured. He lifted her chin ever so slowly, but she was the first to lean in.

His lips crashed down upon her like a wave, and she found herself becoming untethered and drifting out to sea. She was grateful to find that she could lift her arms without it stinging too much, and used the opportunity to run her fingers through his mop of hair. Eric growled softly into her before breaking off, only to turn his attention towards her neck and shoulders. He placed a kiss on each of her wounds, each one burning beautifully in his wake. Ariel couldn't help but moan when he circled the cuts on her back with his lips, replacing the hurt with a river of serenity.

"Eric," she whispered, the breath hardly escaping her mouth, but he heard her, and straightened up immediately, the apology already half out of his mouth.

"Eric," she repeated. His voice ceased.

She knew it was selfish of her to want this man, this man she had only just met who she was just going to end up hurting and hurting all over again. But—

"Eric, I-I think I love you."

The look of wonder on his face made her feel like she was his winning lottery ticket, even though she felt like the exact opposite.

"Me too, darling; I love you too."

_Darling_.


	6. Yellow

_Okay, I guess I lied about not being able to update, which is awesome._

…..

Life went on, a blur of colors.

Her lessons were a dull purple, all etiquette and mind-rendering facts. Her sisters were a white, in sharp contrast to everything else, neither good or bad. Sleep and food were a bright red. The one day when she woke up and didn't feel any pain was an orange.

Triton called for her again, the day after that promising orange, deluging that hour in black. It was worse than usual but this time Ariel had to fight back a smile. She was able to return to the cave comparatively easily, throwing the oddly-colored striped rock onto the sand as their signal. He came up panting half an hour later.

"Sorry it took so long. Is not having seen you in a few days a good thing or a bad thing?" he half-joked.

She thought about it. "A bad thing."

He had brought a number of things with him wrapped in a large waterproof bag, most of them presents. Ariel spent almost ten minutes in awe over his—well, her new—giant fluffy blue sweatshirt (it even smelled like him!), as well as the small cake with fiery red and green frosting that matched her hair and tail.

"When was your birthday?" he had asked.

"Last week."

"Right. Well I apologize for missing it, but I hope this makes up for it." He had bowed in front of her, offering up the cake like a sacrifice.

He had also brought some trinkets with him that apparently humans used. She was absolutely enthralled with all the drinks humans had invented in lieu of water, cream soda being her favorite. The idea of a straw, though, set her off laughing.

"What, are humans too lazy to lean forward a couple of inches?" she teased.

"Nah," He waved her off. "We just want it for the snazzy look." He grabbed it and struck a casual pose against the wall, sticking the straw into his sneering mouth and sipping from an imaginary drink.

Looking back, it seemed ridiculous to wonder whether her instincts about him were right, or if he was going to be a disappointment. He was amazing, funny and handsome and gentle. And he cared about her and loved her already more than anyone else she knew.

To be honest, they spent quite a bit of time kissing, and even the most chaste of them left Ariel not knowing which direction was up. He was far too scared to go any further than that (which was all right by her), the possibility of him hurting her factoring in as much as his refusal to, "take advantage" of her, a euphemism that Ariel decided not to pry into.

He had it set in his mind that he could expand the ledge that they hung out on. She trusted him, and she could tell that he could be just as stubborn as her, so she passed him object upon metallic object as he chipped away quietly. She noticed that he bit his lip whenever he was doing something careful, and opened his mouth whenever he was hammering. In the end he had added only a foot to the couple meters of space that they had, but it seemed like a lot more.

Ariel was the first one to yawn, but he followed mere seconds later.

She loved that they could stare into each other's eyes and never have to say a word. She loved how his thumb traced the smallest of circles over her temple when she was withdrawing into sleep. She loved how she fit in his arms more perfectly than any two puzzle pieces, and he hers.

Eric was her one brilliant ray of yellow, there was no doubt about that.

She felt so useless in comparison. He gathered together all those gifts for her, he helped treat all the damage that Triton had done; anything that could be done to make her life easier, he did. He would challenge Triton to a one-on-one battle if Ariel asked him to. He was the best person she could possibly have imagined.

_And what am I? _she asked herself._ Someone who saved his life. But other than that, I'm useless. I'm selfish. I can never give him back what he's given me. I have nothing to offer him but scars._

Still, the pair of arms around her reminded her that there was at least one person who thought differently.


End file.
